Monday, April 12, 2010

Hellboy vol 9: The Wild Hunt TPB

It hurts me to admit this, but Hellboy is damn good. I really thought my interest in the character would wane after he left his BPRD roots, but dang if I don't love this gloomy outlook too. Makoma was great, Darkness Calls added to the mythos nicely, and now we find out that good old HB is destined to inherit two crowns. One from his father that we've known about for awhile (Anug Un Rama and all that!) but it turns out that his Mom comes from a royal branch too. A dark one, but a legacy that could give Hellboy an army to fight for "right" for now.

I will admit that I'm totally lost on a lot of the backstories. I forget who the witch of war is, I can't remember if I'm supposed to know her or not. I remember the changeling baby, of course, that was a great story, but I don't remember anything about him becoming a pig man, am I supposed to? At this point I can just roll with it because half the back story is new stuff and half is callbacks to stuff I'm supposed to know. It's all good though, because Mignola does a great job keeping the story moving forward. I also have to give him props for the big swerve he pulled in this story. Hasn't HB lost enough friends at this point? I mean, he's vacationing with two dead sisters on his off time, that's pretty bad!

Duncan Fegredo is doing a great job handling the pencils for Mike Mignola. The gnome men look great, the looming statues and skulls look right, and I adore that little hedgehog bad guy. He's great. The Pig Man is a fascinating mix of imposing and pitiable. I'm actually hoping he turns good at this point. The hunters of Herne looked awesome too. The deer head was so unsettling, it was great.